


A Criminal, a Psychopath, a Father

by ElvenQueen18



Series: Troubled Connections [1]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Angst, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Different perspectives, Family Angst, Other, Written in 2010
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27403453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElvenQueen18/pseuds/ElvenQueen18
Summary: Whether they like it or not, Slade has had an impact on the lives of the Boy Wonder and the mute guitarist, and they both see him very differently.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Slade Wilson, Joseph Wilson & Slade Wilson
Series: Troubled Connections [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001979
Kudos: 16





	A Criminal, a Psychopath, a Father

Robin hated Slade. Plain and simple. Or perhaps it wasn't so simple.

Robin was a hero, and Slade was a villain. In that regard, Robin's hatred for Slade would seem rather simple. There was good and evil, light and darkness, and those two forces would always oppose each other. Each force would always try to defeat the other.

But Slade was also a much more personal villain to Robin than any other villain he had fought, so in another regard, his hatred toward the masked criminal wasn't all that simple. From the beginning, Slade was an enigma Robin was obsessively trying to figure out. He had spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out what Slade's plans were, even going so far as to created Red X in an attempt to gain Slade's trust. And of course, it hadn't worked, and Robin had nearly lost his friends in the process.

Another thing about Slade that Robin despised was the fact that the man was a sadistic psychopath. Slade had forced Robin to be his apprentice under the threat of making him watch his teammates be killed by the nanoscopic probes in their bodies. It was Slade who had used and corrupted Terra, and it was Slade who had played a part in the end of the world.

The thought that Robin was in any way like Slade made him feel sick.

Slade wouldn't leave Robin alone even during the time he was believed dead. Robin still shuddered to think of the nightmarish hallucinations he'd had of Slade that night, how the hallucinations seemed so real that his body was nearly beaten to death by something that wasn't even there. _"I am the thing that keeps you up at night,"_ the hallucination had said. _"The evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind. I will never rest...and neither will you."_

Slade hadn't been seen since the Trigon incident, but Robin knew he was still out there, still planning. Sooner or later, Slade would show his face again. And Robin would be ready to defeat him.

* * *

Joseph "Jericho" Wilson loved his father.

Yes, Jericho's father was the same man who was the worst enemy of the Teen Titans. Slade had committed countless crimes, was once a paid assassin, was partially to blame for Jericho being mute, broke his mother's heart (Jericho's mother, that is), and ultimately split up their family.

And yet, it would be a lie to say that Jericho did not love his father. He had loved him all his life, in the way every child loved their parent.

Sometimes Jericho thought it would be easier to hate Slade, or simply not care about him one way or the other. If that were the case, then maybe Jericho wouldn't have to worry about how the Titans would react to his connection to their archenemy.

And maybe the thought-no, the knowledge-that his father didn't love him wouldn't hurt Jericho so much. If Slade had no problem torturing people, both physically and psychologically, who had no familial relation to him, then he was capable of utterly destroying his son.

Did Jericho hate what his father had become? Yes, he did, and he wished Slade could have been different. He wished they could be a family again. But Jericho was a Titan, and Slade was a villain, and that wasn't ever going to change.

Still, no matter how much of a monster Slade was, Jericho was sure he would never stop loving his father.


End file.
